CHAPTER II.
The younger brother looked after him with an air of the most profound astonishment.
"Well! one does not seem in danger of being spoiled by excessive brotherly love," he remarked drily, turning towards Jessie.
"You must know your brother to a certain extent," she answered simply, accustomed to see business take precedence of everything.
"Certainly! but in Europe he was a little more considerate. I thought I had a claim on, at least, the first hour after my arrival."
"You must be tired after your journey," said Jessie, seeking for some excuse for avoiding this equally unexpected and undesired tête-à-tête. "Your rooms are ready if you would, perhaps"--
"Thanks, no!" interrupted Gustave; "I am not in the least tired, and have really every cause to be grateful to Jenkins and Co. for procuring me the pleasure of your company."
With that he drew a chair towards him, and sat down opposite to her. But neither his serene and careless air, nor his prepossessing appearance, succeeded in thawing the cold reserve of the young lady. She was not surprised to find him considerably younger than her guardian, as she knew he was the child of a second marriage. The elder brother was, indeed, already past middle age, while the younger was scarcely over thirty. On the whole, his exterior was exactly that represented in the picture which hung in his brother's study. A powerful, manly figure, agreeable, intelligent features, dark hair and beard, and lively, sparkling dark eyes, which were distinctly fine and expressive. But it was just those eyes which displeased Jessie, for she felt instinctively that her whole character was being put to the proof by them. The same observant glance which had met hers in the first moment of their acquaintance rested steadily on her countenance. Mr. Sandow, junior, was openly examining her, as the first paragraph of the business contract clearly entitled him to do, and that was amply sufficient to awake the most decided opposition in the mind of the young lady. He began the conversation by remarking--
"I am unfortunately quite unacquainted with your home. I come, an inexperienced European, as if fallen from the clouds into the new world, and count upon your friendly support."
"I think you will find the help of your brother better, and more to be relied on, than any I might venture to give."
"No doubt, as far as business affairs are concerned. Under all other circumstances, however, he seems to me rather unapproachable, and then there are some subjects with which I should like to make myself acquainted by the way."
By the way! Yes, just so, by the way, so should a marriage be considered a life-long bond which others are accustomed to regard as the highest and holiest. The "inexperienced European" seemed to look on life quite from his brother's point of view, and to consider such relations as merely of secondary importance.
"But no doubt they are entirely business affairs which bring you here," said Jessie, not without irony. "As far as I know, you intend to enter our firm?"
"Certainly! My brother has made that an indispensable condition."
"Condition! Were you not, then, free to act as you chose, Mr. Sandow? But I forgot; no doubt it concerns the inheritance of your brother's fortune."
The stab struck home; that was seen in the sudden flash of the dark eyes, but it produced no other effect, for Gustave replied with the most delightful candour--
"Quite right; the inheritance. It really was in jeopardy had I declined. My brother was quite capable of leaving the whole of his means to a philanthropical institution had I not obeyed his wishes."
Jessie hardly knew whether to be more surprised or annoyed at the openness with which this man acknowledged that he had come to America merely for the sake of the money. And this he declared before the woman whose hand and fortune were both destined for him, and in whom annoyance at last gained the upper hand as she replied--
"Till now I did not know that calculation was so well understood in Germany."
"Oh! thank God at last we are becoming a practical people," said Gustave, with unalterable composure. "We have been long about it, but now we are making undeniable progress. You seem to consider it a reproach, Miss Clifford!"
"No; but I learnt to look on the land to which my mother belonged, and which she taught me to regard as a second home, from quite another side."
"From the ideal side probably. Now I will not deny that this also exists; but, on the whole, people are now sweeping away the ideal from amongst us. There are only a few who still acknowledge it in word or deed."
"Just on that account should the few gather round their threatened colours, and venture life and blood for their sake!"
The phrase sounded rather peculiar in the mouth of a young girl, but she was plainly understood. Again the dark eyes flashed, but this time in unconcealed surprise.
"Ah! how flattering! A quotation from one of my own articles! You know them then?"
"The journal with which you are connected is one of the greatest political importance," said Jessie coolly. "It has always been read in our house. But just because I know your articles, does it surprise me that you were able to release yourself so easily and completely from all the bonds which held you to your native country."
"You mean the duties to which I am bound by my connection with the journal!" remarked Gustave. "There were certainly difficulties, but they have been arranged according to my wishes. One journalist more or less in Germany makes no difference, and my pen has been long since replaced by another, and, no doubt, a better one."
Jessie pressed her lips together. This wilful misunderstanding angered her inexpressibly, and she was still more annoyed at the persevering gaze, which yet had nothing obtrusive, but strove to conceal itself under the appearance of an animated conversation. In spite of this Jessie had the sensation that her whole character was being thoroughly studied, and this drove her by degrees from her reserve into a state of irritation entirely foreign to her disposition.
"I did not know I had such an attentive reader on this side the ocean," Gustave continued, in the most amiable manner. "Since I have learnt the fact, I should like to beg for your criticism. You have declared already that you love my home like a second fatherland. May I, then, reckon on your sympathy for all that my pen describes?"
"You have given up your literary career," remarked Jessie, "for a more advantageous one."
"Yes; I yielded to the force of circumstances. That does not seem to be judged favourably, but perhaps the author finds more grace in your eyes than the future partner in the firm of Clifford and Company."
"At all events, I can admire the ease with which the one has been metamorphosed into the other."
It was an annihilating look which accompanied the words, but Gustave Sandow was not to be so easily annihilated. He bore the look calmly, and his reply betrayed even a certain humour, which increased the growing irritation of the young lady.
"The criticism is not a favourable one, I see. But that is just the reason why I must hear it. You must not withhold your bad opinion from me, Miss Clifford. I insist upon knowing my sentence."
"Without reserve?"
"Quite without reserve."
"Well, then, Mr. Sandow, I declare openly to you that I have read with the fullest sympathy and admiration everything which came from your pen, till the moment when you accepted your brother's proposal. I should never have thought it possible. I thought that anyone who devoted himself so entirely to his country as you did, who fought so energetically for its rights, who summoned others so stirringly to their duties, must also abide by the colours to which he had sworn fealty, and dare not forsake them for mere fortune's sake. I could not believe that the pen from which flowed such glowing words should serve for the future to write figures, and only figures; that the undaunted champion should of his own free-will throw down his weapons, and quit the lists, to take a comfortable seat at the office desk. I doubted the possibility till the moment of your arrival, and that I must at last believe it--that is the bitterest disappointment of my life!"
Jessie felt herself to be drawn on by her excitement to insult the man who sat before her, but she cared not for that. She saw in him only the adversary, only the importunate suitor, whom she would keep at a distance cost what it might. Let him feel in the first hour how deeply she despised his selfishness, then there would be no room to doubt how she felt about the marriage scheme, and she was safe from his wooing. But he did not appear very sensitive to insult, for he maintained the most perfect composure.
"Miss Clifford, for a merchant's daughter, and the sleeping partner in a great mercantile house, you appear to nourish very disrespectful ideas of accounts and the office desk," said he, with revolting indifference. "My brother would be shocked. I feel myself extremely flattered that my modest pen has had the power of awakening so much interest, and as to the disappointment, I do not give up the hope of at last succeeding in bringing you to a better opinion of my performances at the office desk."
Jessie made no reply. She completely lost her self-control at this way of turning affront into compliment, and at the smiling calm with which the manœuvre was carried out.
Fortunately at this moment the door opened, and Sandow entered.
"The telegrams are sent off," said he. "Now I am again at your disposal. I suppose dinner will soon be ready, Jessie?"
"I have still some necessary orders to give, which I will do at once."
And hastily, as if taking to flight before the new arrival, but not without casting on him another glance of contempt, she left the room.
"Well, what do you think of Jessie?" said Sandow, as soon as the brothers were alone; "and what progress have you made with her?"
"Progress! Surely, Frank, you did not quite expect me to make her a proposal of marriage at the first interview!"
"But at least you might lead the way to it."
"The way has opened most successfully," Gustave assured him. "We have already had a most lively dispute."
"Dispute! What do you mean?" and Sandow, who had seated himself near his brother, looked up as if he could hardly believe his ears. "Is that the way you begin your courtship?"
"Why not? At least it prevents indifference. That I certainly need not fear from Miss Clifford. She is prejudiced against me to the highest degree, and looks upon my leaving my country at your call as a kind of treachery against it."
"Yes, the girl has her head full of romantic ideas," said Sandow angrily. "That is owing to the sentimental, high-flown education she received from her mother. Clifford could not be induced to oppose it, although otherwise his understanding was healthy enough. He idolized his only daughter, and thought her everything that is good and beautiful. You will have to contend with these exaggerated ideas when Jessie is your wife."
Around Gustave Sandow's lips played a half ironical smile as he replied--
"Do you, then, think it is a settled thing that she will become my wife? At present I seem to have the most brilliant prospects of refusal."
"Stupid girlish whims! nothing more. She has taken it into her head that marriage must be preceded by a love romance. But you"--and here Sandow's eyes rested on his brother's handsome person--"it need not be difficult for you to gain ground with her, and my authority will do the rest. Jessie is far too dependent a character not to be led at last."
"Well, I have not seen any symptoms of this dependence myself," remarked Gustave drily. "Miss Clifford was tolerably energetic when she gave me the flattering information that my acquaintance was one of the bitterest disappointments of her life."
Sandow wrinkled his forehead.
"She told you that!"
"Literally, and accompanied the speech with the necessary air of dislike and contempt. She is a quite peculiar mixture of maidenly reserve and genuine American self-consciousness. In our country a young girl would hardly have read a total stranger such a lecture."
"Oh! no; Jessie is thoroughly German," said Sandow. "She is the living image of her mother, and has not a single trait of her American father. But never mind that now. Let us come to the point. I never felt any doubt as to your acceptance of my proposal; that it has taken place so quickly and unreservedly is very agreeable to me, since it proves that, in spite of all your idealistic scribbling, you have managed to preserve a clear, cool head capable of making a calculation, which is just what is wanted here. Jessie is in every respect a brilliant match, such as you would scarcely have found under other circumstances. For me, the first recommendation of the plan is that it will keep Clifford's money in the firm. Our interests are therefore identical, and I hope we shall be satisfied with each other."
"I hope so too," said Gustave laconically.
The purely business view taken by his brother of the projected marriage seemed to surprise him as little as the judgment on his scribbling hurt him.
"The arrangement, then, remains as settled in our letters," continued Sandow. "For the present you enter the office as a volunteer in order to learn your new calling. That is not difficult for anyone gifted with the necessary education and intelligence. All beyond requires merely habit and practice. As soon as your engagement with Jessie is openly announced, you will have a share in the business. So don't delay your explanation too long. As an heiress, Jessie is naturally much run after, and in little more than a year she will be of age. Besides, at the present moment I have some large undertakings in view, and must be certain of complete control over the whole capital."
"And therefore Miss Clifford and I must marry," added Gustave. "One sees that you are accustomed to make the most of a fortunate conjuncture, whether of men or dollars."
There was a touch of mockery in these words, but Sandow did not appear to notice it. In his reply lay the same icy indifference which he had displayed in his conversation with Jessie.
"One must reckon with men as with figures; in that lies the whole secret of success. At all events, you have every reason to thank the present conjuncture. Besides all the other advantages, it secures my money to you. You know I have no other relative or heir."
"No other! Really?" asked Gustave in a peculiar tone, while he gazed fixedly at his brother.
"No!"
In that one short word what unbounded severity and determination!
"Then you have not altered your views. I thought that now years have rolled by you might have learnt to look differently on the past."
"Silence!" interrupted Sandow. "Name it not! The past has no existence, shall have no existence for me. I buried it when I left Europe for ever."
"And the recollection of it too!"
"Certainly! and I will not have it recalled by others. You have already attempted it several times in your letters, and I imagined my dislike to the subject had been shown plainly enough. Why do you always return to it? Is it to distress me, or"--here he fixed a threatening, penetrating look on his brother--"does some scheme lie at the bottom of this persistency?"
Gustave shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"Why should you think that? I asked in my own interests. Since the question of inheritance is now before us, you can easily understand the motive."
"Decidedly. You have become uncommonly practical I see, and it is much better for you to have become so without paying the heavy price for your experience which mine has cost me."
Gustave became suddenly serious, and laid his hand on his brother's arm.
"Yes, Frank, a heavy price it must indeed have been, since it has made you another man. I do not find a single trace of what you were at home."
Sandow laughed bitterly.
"No, thank God! there is not much left of the soft-hearted fool who lived for every one, who trusted every one, and in the end must pay the price of his blind faith like a criminal. Whenever that blind confidence has cost a man, as it has me, honour, happiness, nay, existence itself, he will for the future manage his affairs after a different fashion. But now, not another word of the past. I have cast it from me; let it rest."
"Dinner is ready," announced a servant, throwing open the door.
The brothers rose; the turn the conversation had taken made any interruption welcome to both. They entered the adjoining dining-room, where Jessie already awaited them. Gustave had in a moment regained his usual manner. He approached the young lady and offered her his arm as if nothing in the world had come between them.
"Miss Clifford, I have the honour to introduce myself as a volunteer in the house of Clifford and Company. I may, therefore, now regard you as my second chief, and respectfully offer you my humble services."
And without paying any attention to the frigid manner of his second chief, he took the arm which Jessie did not dare to refuse, and led her to the table.